Unsponsored and Unfiltered Mutterings on Education, Politics, and Business from Someone Who Still Hasn't Learned to Keep His Big Mouth Shut

Monday, September 3, 2012

Ed Reform in Election Season

There is a clear generational difference in how the Republicans and Democrats are approaching the topic of education in this campaign.

The Republicans are serving up a few comments about the student loan problem, in the context of their broad narrative on national debt. However, their clear focus is on K-12, particularly school choice a la Milton Friedman. Obviously, both messages target parents and adults. This approach probably won't interest college students in the least.

The Democrats are taking a very different approach. During a recent stump speech here in Charlottesville, Mr. Obama used every play in the book with regard to college students, implying that his party is for affordable access to higher ed. Clearly, his camp targets the youth vote. The message comes across as a rather clear pander to me, but it may succeed nevertheless.

Neither side will delve into higher ed's more complex issues- they aren't exactly compelling campaign material, and many of the core problems are at the State level.

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Brief Bio

I have many interests and a diverse background. I was born in the US and grew up in the middle east (Jordan) and southern Africa (Rhodesia / Zimbabwe and Botswana). I completed middle school via correspondence with The Calvert School in Baltimore, and then returned to the US for high school. I earned my PhD in physics at Penn State in 2001. Thereafter I did my postdoc in the Netherlands, before establishing a nanophysics lab and introducing several new courses at the University of Virginia. Next, I became a Program Manager for a research division of SAIC based at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington DC, while on leave from UVA, and then returned to teach for one year with the physics department at UVa. I am now a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, while continuing my work managing several research contracts at NRL and considering what's next. I aim to help young people get the kind of experiential education that connects them to good opportunities- that's my core motivation.